I had to get up early today to head into the Gothic quarter to go with the tour group to head to Andorra. I thought I was originally late, because I had timed everything based on public transit, but because of the phone issues I didnt trust my old phone to function correctly, so I called an Uber and had 30 minutes to spare. It also was the Barcelona marathon today, so at 6am it was a pretty busy city!
There were about 30 of us that were waiting for the tour, but we were split into two groups. We had to walk to our bus and I ended up being taken under the wing of a couple from Texas (Natasha and Todd). Our first stop was a tiny town (like 3,000 people) called Baga, in Spain. It was a cute little town. We had time to get coffees and pastries and walk around a bit (the town really is tiny, so 20 minutes was more than enough time for free time).
I had wandered off on my own and met back up with Todd and Natasha, where Todd proceeded to tell me that I was part of his security cirlce now. He was gonna watch out for me for the tour. The three of us were in the back row with 5 seats, so we had room to spread out, which helped Todd and his over six foot frame fit in the seats more comfortably.
We stopped in another extra tiny town, this time in France. This town had only 500 people! One of the things I was most impressed with though was that they had their own little version of the Free Little Library at the tour bus stop! In this town our guide Xavi told us about how Spain and France boundaries were established and that there is an island that is French for six months of the year and the other six months is Spanish. The island is where the treaty was signed when they set the country boundaries.
After that tiny town, it was time to climb up the mountain to Andorra. We came in from the French side, which was a lot of switch backs and snow. Thankfully it wasnt snowing while we were going up, but there was snow! We stopped to take pictures a few times and at the border crossing to get our Andorra stamp (sadly it was a tourist stamp, not official).
After our photo sessions we headed to their capitol of Andorra la Vella (which means Old Andorra). The town name is misleading, because they tore down the old town and built a huge shopping street. Andorra doesnt have the same VAT that the rest of the EU does, because its not actually part of the EU, it is infact a dual principality. They use the Euro and speak Catalan (and also French and Spanish). Spain limits how much of the products sold (alcohol, tobacco, electronics, etc) in Andorra can be brought back over the border because they dont want it to be resold.
When we got to Andorra la Vella we were given two hours to eat and shop. Natasha, Todd and I found a place to eat. I got a pizza (first of the trip) and they very kindly treated me since I had let Todd use my charging brick on the bus since his phone hadnt charged overnight. After lunch we went to check out the shopping. Of course the siesta is a thing here too (good for them, but this a major tourist spot, just stay open!) I was able to find a magnet, and I bought some chocolate as well. I was hoping maybe they had Google phones so I could pick one up here and hae it for the rest of the trip, but alas it was not to be.
After the capital, we headed back towards Barcelona. We had to do customs and border patrol to get out of Andorra and into Spain. We were warned there would be traffic, and Xavi was right. We hit traffic the whole way back. It started to snow when we stopped halfway for a bathroom break. Glad it waited until we were heading home and not when we were in town.
When I got back to the hotel I got ready for bed and read again. No dinner again for me. Tomorrow I have to be up even earlier since I have to fly to Nice tomorrow.
It was a long but wonderful day!
Normal Travel Girl 
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